NATO is preparing for its biggest military build-up since the Cold War. The United States and the United Kingdom, plus several other member countries, agreed to send troops to form four battle groups in the Baltics and eastern Europe.

CCTV’s Mariam Zaidi has more on those 2-day meetings in Brussels.

NATO countries meet to discuss Moscow's role in Syria, Baltics

NATO is preparing for its biggest military build-up since the Cold War. The United States and the United Kingdom, plus several other member countries, agreed to send troops to form four battle groups in the Baltics and eastern Europe. CCTV’s Mariam Zaidi has more on those 2-day meetings in Brussels.

The gathering is a follow-up to July’s summit in Warsaw which saw a commitment by NATO to deploy a rotation of 4,000 troops by 2017 to the Baltics and Eastern Europe in a show of force, amid fears of Russian aggression along the NATO-Russia border.

“NATO does not seek confrontation with Russia. We don’t want a new Cold War or want a new arms race so what NATO does is defensive and proportionate. At the same time, NATO has to react,” NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg said.

There was another issue getting attention as the NATO meeting got underway. Spain had been allowing Russian vessels to refuel at one of its ports, raising concerns among allies those ships could take part in airstrikes on Aleppo.

A call for trans-Atlantic solidarity was quickly achieved at the NATO meeting in Brussels; The Spanish Foreign Ministry issued a statement to announced Russia had withdrawn its request to have Spain refuel its warships.

At his news conference following the meeting, Stoltenberg spoke of further commitments by the allies in addition to the pledged forces led by Canada, Germany, Britain and the United States. He said NATO would establish a new unit on intelligence and look to strengthen cyber defense.

Anton Fedyashin on the NATO Summit

To discuss the latest on the NATO Summit, CCTV America’s Mike Walter interviewed American University Russian History professor, Anton Fedyashin.

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